CTA adjusts ad policy, also says decrowding efforts working

May 08, 2013|By Jon Hilkevitch | Tribune reporter

Sex and violence sells, but no longer on the CTA.

The CTA board voted Wednesday to tighten the agency’s advertising policy, allowing only commercial, promotional and governmental ads, as well as public service announcements from non-profit groups on issues related to health, welfare or education.

The CTA will no longer accept political ads or advertising on any public issues.

As a result, medical facilities that perform abortions could still advertise the service, but groups that advocate for or against a woman’s right to an abortion would have their ad request turned down by the CTA, officials said.

Banned also are ads for films, television programs and video games that are adult-oriented or mature-rated. The new advertising prohibitions expand existing CTA rules to reject ads that depict graphic violence, officials said.

The CTA avoids any free-speech challenge covered under the First Amendment by designating the transit agency as a non-public forum, officials said. Other transit agencies have successfully used the same strategy in recent years, CTA general counsel Karen Seimetz said.

“CTA buses and trains are not public forums for debate,’’ CTA President Forrest Claypool said. In the past, the transit agency spent too much time and money on legal fees determining whether controversial advertising was acceptable, he said.

Officials estimate the new advertising policy will cost the agency $100,000 in annual revenue. Advertising generates about $20 million annually for the transit agency, officials said.

Meanwhile, the CTA gave itself high marks Wednesday in a report card on efforts to “de-crowd’’ trains and buses.

The conclusion was that CTA trains and buses are less crowded at peak travel times than they were a year ago, according to the internal review by the transit agency of a $16 million initiative to more effectively balance service to match ridership demand.

The addition of service on selected bus routes and rail lines doesn’t mean riders are now guaranteed a seat while riding.

In fact, anecdotal reports from commuters give mixed reviews on whether there is significant relief from sardine can-like conditions at the busiest morning and evening travel hours.

But the CTA reports a 35 percent reduction in crowding on trains and a 28 percent reduction on buses during the first three months of this year, compared to the same period in 2012.

In mid-December, the CTA added service on 48 bus routes with high ridership and on six of the eight rail lines, mostly during peak hours.

The transit agency also eliminated 12 bus routes with lower ridership where alternative and in some cases less convenient service was available.

Sherry Wims, a nurse who rides the No. 147 Outer Drive Express, which is one of the routes that has received added service to ease crowding, said she hasn’t noticed any improvement.

“I never get a seat,’’ she said in an email to the Tribune. “I’m 56 years old, have a bad back with surgery in the past. It is really difficult to stand that long and get jostled around, especially on the way home when we are packed like sardines. I’d ask for a priority seat, but frankly the folks sitting there appear to be more in need than me.’’

Rider Paul Aman said the problem on the No. 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express route, where extra bus runs were also added, is too much service in the morning at Lake Shore Drive and Belmont Avenue.

“Regularly at the southbound entrance at Lake Shore Drive and Belmont, three No. 146 buses arrive within a minute of each other and two are half to two-thirds empty,’’ Aman said in an email. “I have written many times to the CTA and dared them to bring out a man with his clipboard to really see what's happening.’’